Tuesday, December 1, 2015

How to Take the Pain Out of Reviewing For Final Examinations:)

Wow!It is difficult
to believe that the year is almost over.A well-earned break is just around the corner for all teachersJ

So, this newsletter will be devoted to making those 3 or 4
weeks productive and fun for both teachers and students.If final examinations are on the agenda for
the end of December (or at the return to school in January), review of content
material is a must.However, the “drill
and kill” format is generally the least effective.Since the goal is to support students in
preparing for final exams, teachers should look at creative ways to facilitate
the process.

1.Here from the University
of Central Florida are 101 activities to support all learners in
fine-tuning their knowledge in any content area.Though this is aimed at university students,
many of the review techniques are commonly used in grades K-12!

My personal
favorites are EMPTY OUTLINES (pass out an incomplete outline of the
class material and then have students with partners complete the missing
pieces—I also pass out different outlines to minimize copying), PICTURE
PROMPTS (visuals stimulate student conversation and that especially
helps English language learners in building both conversational English and
deepening their knowledge of academic English), DRAWING FOR UNDERSTANDING
(in K-12 this is called a “quick draw” and students thoroughly enjoy it since
they don’t need to struggle with spelling and are allowed to work as a small
team in completing their work), and TOURNAMENTS (competition is fun for
everyone AND if there are prizes, all the better).

2.From Intervention
Central, there is a collection of games, contests, andpuzzles that motivate students to enjoy
the learning/review process.Again, teachers
should see which games they feel their students will feel most comfortable
doing and use them.

My own favorites here are QUIZZES
DEVELOPED BY STUDENT TEAMS.Some of
the questions developed are even more creative than my own.With
this activity, teachers navigate the room listening in on the conversations and providing
feedback as needed (without giving answers since
it is the team’s responsibility
to make sure the questions are valid ones).Another favorite of mine is REVIEW-QUESTION BINGO.Students work
in small teams to mark their bingo cards (they are marking only numbers).Once completed, the tea teams are involved,
the odds of arriving at the
correct answer are increasedJ.Last, having students createCOMMERCIALS
ON THEIR ASSIGNED TOPIC.With Google Slide, students can
do a power point.If they have access to
cameras, they can film a commercial.Again, teachers navigate the room and
interact with teamsas needed.

3.The last site I would like to
share on this topic is from QUIZLET.I have created review questions for students
on a regular basis on this site.Students enjoy the diversity of activities.Flash cards pop up with visuals and
definitions.Students may also elect to
hear the word pronounced (a must for ELLs).Then students play games matching the word to the definitions.There are also several “video-game like”
activities that are always well received.Teachers could also have student teams create games to stump fellow
classmates.

Well, I hope you and your students enjoy the activities.Have a great winter break!

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About Me

I am an educator, adjunct professor, educational consultant, and teacher trainer who has been meeting the many language needs of non-native speakers of English for close to 30 years. I continue to love what I do as much as I did when I first entered the ELD classroom (ELD in California, but ESL everywhere else). What I hope to do here is to share successes, failures, hopes, frustrations, etc. in trying to teach these students. It is my hope that many teachers will join and share as well. What we can do here will benefit us all, but especially the ELL.